nbcolympics.com website

My Letter:
I see that your company wrote the nbcolympics.com website. I also see that your slogan is "We always get to the final."

Your website did not get to the final on my system. Specifically, it is impossible to view the videos on the nbcolympics.com website under Ubuntu Linux. Please make a stronger effort to get to the final and provide a cross-platform video technology on your websites. Thanks in advance.

Response Received:

Radeon X1400

My Letter:
I use Fedora Linux on my Dell Inspiron laptop. I cannot use 3-D windows managers such as Beryl because my Radeon X1400 is unsupported by the open source driver, and AMD's proprietary driver does not support the Composite extension. I understand that the solution rests with AMD:
1) AMD could provide support for the Composite extension in a new driver release.
- or -
2) AMD could assist the open source community to write drivers for Linux.

I have read AMD's stand that the driver contains third-party IP and therefore not all the details can be shared. However, the Linux Driver Initiative (http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/free_drivers.html), has a clause for those matters. So I have three sets of questions:

A) Regarding AMD's drivers
1) Why does AMD not include support for the Composite extension?
2) Is the reason for lack of Composite support technical, or political?
3) Is Composite support planned for a near future release?

B) Regarding open source drivers
1) Why does AMD not assist the open source community to write drivers for their hardware?
2) Is the reason not supporting the open source community support technical, or political?
3) Does the Linux Driver Initiative not fully address AMD's concerns?
4) Specifically, does the Linux Driver Initiative not fully address AMD's concerns regarding IP?

C) Regarding AMD's view of the Linux community
1) Does AMD view the Linux community as an important demographic?
2) Does AMD intend to serve the Linux community and have that community as a customer base?
3) Does AMD believe that the current lack of 3D games on Linux mean that there is no interest in 3D usage of AMD products on Linux?
4) Does AMD agree with the argument that better hardware support of Linux will further Linux adoption on the desktop?
5) Anything else that you would like to add?

Response Received:
Thanks - could you contact us again in July? We're reviewing our Linux strategy right now, so anything I tell you know could be out of date in weeks.

iView MediaPro

My Letter:
I am searching for Photo Managment software for Linux. iView seems to be just what I am looking for. Since you have an OSX version, I imagine that porting to Linux would not be too difficult. Please let me know if this is possible. You have a paying customer here, if you decide to port to Linux. Thank you. Dotan Cohen

Response Received:
Dear Dotan, It seems at present there are no current plans to port to Linux however we may look to do so in the future. Sorry for the inconvenience, iView Multimedia Support Team

Buy.com Music Store

My Letter:
I would like to download music, but your system blocks Linux users. I did read the FAQ and I see that is because of an activeX control that is required because of the DRM technology that you license from Microsoft. Are you considering adding other DRM schemes, so that Linux users can download form you? Thank you.

Response Received:
Dear customer, Thank you for contacting Buy.com. This is in reference to your email. This is in response to your request for information regarding license restrictions. We apologize for any misunderstanding. When you purchase and download music from Buy.com, your music files are accompanied by a license which contain certain minimal restrictions. The music files are encrypted with license technology to be sure that they are used according to your license restrictions. See License Restrictions for details at https://secure.buy.com/corp/support/downloads_help.asp#License Downloading, transferring, and burning each license restriction including the number of times you may: record label has control over these - Download your songs from Buy.com to your computer(s) - Transfer your songs to another computer(s) - Transfer your songs to a portable digital media player - Burn your songs to CD Buy.com complies with each record label and adjusts the license on each of your music downloads accordingly. There are two Types of Licenses: Primary and Secondary. The primary license is downloaded to the computer you used to buy the music (for example your home computer). Your primary license enables you to copy your music from your primary computer to your digital media players and to burn it to your CDs as many times as the record label allows. If you download a secondary license, you do so onto a secondary computer (for example your work computer). Your secondary license enables you ONLY to listen to your music on your secondary computer. A secondary license does NOT allow you to copy your music from your secondary computer to your digital media players or to burn it to your CDs. Make sure you mean to buy your music from your primary computer so that it contains your primary license. The licenses are non-transferable. You cannot buy your music on your work computer and then transfer your primary license to your home computer. The computer you buy from, becomes the primary computer with the primary license for that song. Before You Buy: Icons Show Number of Copies Allowed When you download songs, your licenses are downloaded too. When you lookup a song, notice that each song displays icons showing the number of times it may be copied via the primary license. - The Disk icon shows the number of times the song can be downloaded to disk. - The Digital Media Player icon shows the number of times you can download the song to digital media players. - The Computer icon shows the number of times you can download your music with a secondary license to a secondary computer. - The icons apply only to your primary license on your primary computer. The icons do not apply to the secondary license on your secondary computer. You cannot use the secondary license to copy music at all. After You Buy: Your Receipt Shows Number of Copies Allowed After you have purchased your music, you can go back to see how many downloads you have left and find out if there are any restrictions on the number of disks or media player downloads you can make. Log in, go to your Account page, and open the receipt page to view the music you have previously purchased. Your receipt shows the same information as the icons on the song description page. Example: Downloads: 2 Digital Media Players: Unlimited CDs: 3. In this example, you could download your music to one primary and one secondary computer (two downloads total) AND you could copy your music to your digital media player as many times as you like (unlimited) AND you could burn each song to a CD three times. The receipt page applies only to your primary license on your primary computer. You cannot use the secondary license on your secondary computer to copy music at all. Uploading to a Shared Web Site - Not Permitted Your license does not permit your music files to be uploaded onto a shared server or made available on internet web sites (Example: KaZaA.com or Morpheus). Although you might be physically able to upload the files to a shared server, the music files will be rendered useless to anyone who downloads them because of the license encryption technology.

Apple iTunes

My Letter:
Also, is there any chance of porting iTunes to Linux? I use Fedora Core 4. Thank you.

Response Received:
Linux support is currently not available for iTunes. Porting iTunes to Linux falls beyond the scope of the support offered through the iTunes Music Store. Apple does not comment on rumors about decisions, products, programs, or promotions that Apple has not officially announced. By withholding comment, Apple hopes to protect customers from making decisions based on information that is incomplete, inaccurate, or subject to change before the formal announcement. Apple believes this is the best way to ensure that all customers are treated fairly. If you require assistance beyond the complimentary support available online, please call AppleCare technical support at 800-APL-CARE (800-275-2273). Help is available seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. central time. There may be a fee associated with the call. We welcome your comments and suggestions regarding the iTunes Music Store. To ensure your feedback is considered for possible product enhancements or additions to the iTunes Music Store, please visit the Feedback page at http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html

Google Toolbar

My Letter:
I browse in Opera on my Fedora (Red Hat) home computer. I sometimes use
Firefox (for gmail, mostly). I was interested in the google toolbar for opera. Yes, opera does have the search google feature, but there are other features of the toolbar that I like. I like that it reports to google about my surfing habits as that will make my favorite sites more popular. Please consider creating a toolbar for linux users. If not for opera (I'm not sure that is possible) then please create one for Firefox. And if you cant add non-microsoft products to the OS dropdown list, then please add 'other'.

Response Received:
Thank you for your note. We decided to first release the Google Toolbar for Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you are using a different browser, such as Netscape or Mozilla Firefox, or a different operating system, we apologize for this inconvenience and will keep your feedback in mind for future versions of the Toolbar.

Picasa

Response Received:
Currently, Picasa is not available for use on Macintosh or Linux computers. Unfortunately, we do not have any information on future versions at this time. I will pass this request on to our developers for further review.

Barnes and Noble Music Store

Response Received:
Thank-you for your inquiry. The format on a window based computer is called Window Media Player, but the equipment that you are referring to must has its own form of the media player. We have forward your information to the proper department for any correction and reviews. We do apologize for any inconvenience. We are looking forward to assisting you further.

FotoStation Pro

My Letter:
I want to try FotoStation Pro 5.1 but on the download page there were only downloads for Windows and Mac. Where can I download a Linux version? An rpm would be great but any old tarball will do. I also need to know if FotoStation Pro 5.1 will work with Hebrew IPTC information in my photos. I have about 1800 photos that I entered the IPTC info in with BrilliantPhoto on a Windows XP machine in Hebrew. BrilliantPhoto has no Linux version so I am looking to buy your product. Thank you.

Response Received:
Dear Dotan, Fotostation Pro 5.1 is only available for Windows and Macintosh platforms. Fotostation Pro 5.1 can also be installed in Hebrew and support this language.

Photo Mechanic

My Letter:
I want to try Photo Mechanic but on the download page there were only downloads for Windows and Mac. Where can I download a Linux version? An RPM would be great but any old tarball will do.

Response Received:
Hi Dotan, Photo Mechanic has not been developed for a Linux platform yet. I would try the Photo Mechanic demo on either a PC or a Mac. Open some of your photos and check the IPTC info by clicking on the i button at the lower left of each thumbnail box. If the info looks good in the demo, then you should be good to go. If you go to www.camerabits.com, you can request a demo code by clicking on the try button. Just select Mac or PC, and single user. Next enter your name and a valid email address twice. Click on the Request Demo code button to continue. The next page will let you download the installer. Make sure to use Safari if you are using an Mac. I hope this helps.

SCC MediaGrid

My Letter:
I want to try Mediagrid for managing my photo collection. Do you have a linux version? An rpm would be great but any old tarball will do.

Response Received:
Thank you for your interest in our products, but unfortunately at this
time SCC MediaGrid is not available for the Linux platform. The product
is available for MacOS9, MacOSX or Windows only.

BrilliantPhoto

My Letter:
I have been happily enjoying BrilliantPhoto for several months, but I am moving to Linux (Fedora core 3), and one of only two programs that I have a hard time finding a replacement for is BrilliantPhoto. Will you have a Linux port available? What else can you suggest? Thank you very much.

Response Received:
Sorry, not planning a Linux port - there's no money in it. I have no idea if there's anything comparable for Linux out there.

Note that the content of letters may be edited in some cases. This is mostly to correct spelling and grammar errors.